


The Prank War

by padfootagain



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Marauders, Marauders' Era, Romantic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 14:26:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16955703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/padfootagain/pseuds/padfootagain
Summary: You and Sirius go through a little competition to decide who is the best at setting pranks. And the cost of the bet might change your love life forever…





	The Prank War

**Author's Note:**

> Cute and cute! Hope you like it!

“Y/N, you are out of your mind.”

“You are the one who’s delusional right now.”

“Oh, is it so?”

“Of course! Sirius, we both know that I am better than you at making pranks.”

“You know, it could play against you… this tendency you have to overestimate your skills.”

You snorted, drawing annoyed glances from the students studying quietly in the Library around you.

“Remind me who planned the prank against Filch last month? Dare to say that it wasn’t a masterpiece!”

“I’m not saying that you’re bad at it,” Sirius admitted. “I’m only saying that I’m better than you.”

“You’re not.”

“I am.”

“You’re not.”

“I am.”

“You’re not!”

“If you two don’t shut up, I will silence you both,” Remus interrupted you and your friend before he could reply.

“You are ridiculous,” Lily admonished. “You are having an argument about who can break the rules the best, do you realize how idiotic this is?”

You and Sirius exchanged a glance, before answering together to Lily.

“No.”

She rolled her eyes, before focusing on her book again, heaving a defeated sigh. By her side, James was chuckling.

“It’s not the first time they have this argument, you know,” James told her.

“It’s a recurring problem,” Peter nodded. “Last time they argued about it for three days.”

“And the time before that they ended up not talking to each other for a full week because of it,” Remus added.

“Perhaps you should decide about it, once and for all,” Marlene proposed.

“What do you mean?” you asked back.

“A competition,” she smiled.

“Marls, no, don’t make things worse,” Lily moaned.

“A tournament,” James slowly smiled, sparkles shining in his hazel eyes.

“A prank war,” Sirius grinned excitedly.

“I’m in,” you nodded with the same excitement enlightening your features.

“By Merlin’s beard,” Peter frowned. “This is going to be…”

“…Utterly crazy,” Remus finished in his friend’s state.

“I was going to say ‘interesting’, but…” Peter shrugged.

“This is going to be brilliant,” James grinned.

“How should we do it?” you asked.

“Both of you should set up a prank in limited time,” Remus mumbled, thinking hard.

“A same target would be more difficult too,” James nodded.

“You are not planning a prank war,” Lily firmly ordered, but she was completely ignored.

“How should we choose the target?”

“Let’s luck decide,” you proposed.

Sirius nodded, picking up a piece of parchment, and tearing it into little pieces. He then proceeded in giving each of his friend a piece.

“Everyone writes down a name, and Lily here will pick up the victim.”

“Why me?” Lily frowned, picking up her quill.

“I thought the most innocent one always picked in this kind of things,” Sirius grinned.

Lily rolled her eyes but replied nothing, merely heaving a sigh and writing down a name on her parchment.

“I thought you were against that whole thing,” James pointed out.

“You’re going to do it anyway,” she replied nonchalantly.

“She has a point,” Marlene agreed.

All of you wrote down a name on a piece of parchment, folded them and threw them on the table. Sirius magically mixed the papers together, before turning to Lily.

“If the Head Girl would do us the honour,” he grinned.

Lily merely smiled at the teasing, and picked up a piece of paper, that she opened. And the shock on her face and her nervous laugh were enough to give you a taste of your fate.

“You are both so dead,” she giggled.

“Why?”

“Who is it?”

She turned the parchment around, so both you and Sirius could read the name written in dark ink, in a handwriting that you immediately recognized as James’s.

“No… I mean,” you shook your head, “we can’t target _her_!”

“She’s way too scary!” Sirius agreed. “I bet she would kill us. Literally.”

“It’s the game!” James chimed next to Sirius.

“I hate you, Prongs,” his friend replied.

“Better for you two not to get caught for this one,” Remus noted.

“Are you sure you still want to do this?” Peter asked, clearly worried. “That would be a shame for the two of you to be expelled just a few months before finishing school.”

You and Sirius exchanged a glance, but he merely shrugged, silently accepting the challenge.

You couldn’t help but wonder how by Merlin’s beard you would manage to set up a prank against Minerva McGonagall and getting out of it alive.

“We also need to decide about the wager,” Sirius added nonchalantly.

“What do you mean?” Lily asked. “The title of being the best at pranks isn’t enough for you?”

“It’s no fun if we don’t have a real bet.”

He turned to you with a warm smile on his lips.

“What would you like me to do if you win?”

You let out a chuckle.

“Easy. Help me for the next Transfiguration essay.”

“Deal. That’s not that much,” he rolled his eyes. “As if I wouldn’t help you if you asked nicely.”

“You didn’t help me last week for the potions essay,” you pointed out.

“Perhaps you didn’t ask nicely enough.”

“Perhaps you were too busy playing Quidditch with James.”

“Alright, alright… And if I win, besides getting the title that rightfully belongs to me,” he teased you, “I want you to go to Hogsmeade with me.”

You raised an eyebrow.

“Well, that isn’t much hard either.”

“Good, it’s settled then?”

“It’s settled.”

He checked his watch, and reminded James of the Quidditch practice. The four boys quickly picked up their stuff, before hurrying towards the library, making way too much noise to the taste of the busy students around them.

You couldn’t help but frown as both Marlene and Lily were staring at you.

“What? Do I have ink on my nose?” you asked, robbing the tip of your nose and checking if it was dirty.

“Sirius wants you to go to Hogsmeade with him,” Marlene said slowly.

“Yes… and what about it? He’s silly though, I would have gone with him anyway if he had asked.”

“Really?” Lily asked, surprised.

“Of course. He’s my best friend. It’s always fun to spend some time with him.”

Marlene and Lily exchanged a glance before looking at you again.

“Y/N… Next time we go to Hogsmeade is for Valentine’s Day… he was asking for a date,” Lily told you slowly, her words carefully chosen to try to delicately bring the news to you.

But you only met her remark with a loud laugh, that drew many glares towards you and your friends.

“Lils! It’s Sirius! Of course, he wasn’t asking for a date!” you laughed at your friend.

“Why would he make such a fuss of it then?” Marlene replied.

“He was just joking!”

“It’s Valentine’s Day!”

“It’s just Hogsmeade.”

“He was asking for a date, Y/N. He’s expecting to take you on a date to Hogsmeade,” Lily firmly stated.

“You two have such a wild imagination!”

“No, you’re being blind, Y/N. Sirius has been making moves towards you for months!”

“What are you talking about? He’s my friend.”

“Y/N, listen to us. Sirius is interested in you. I mean… more than as a friend,” Marlene replied.

“You two are mad,” you shook your head, focusing on your essay again.

Their words echoed through your mind though, and you were soon unable to focus on the parchment before you. The more you came to think of it, the more you wondered…

… what if they were not that mad after all…

—————————————————————————-

You had chosen something classic and yet difficult to accomplish. Controlling a statue of the Castle was far from easy. You had already performed the spell with the Marauders, but it had asked you quite a lot of preparation to do it again on your own. The main advantage was that this prank allowed you a fair chance to get out of it without getting caught. And that was undoubtedly something you needed to think about, especially when your target was Minerva McGonagall.

You knew that Sirius would have to make a prank this afternoon as well. And you wanted to be the first to do it. Because then, McGonagall would be less angry…

You watched her walking down the corridor in an energetic pace, counting the seconds before she would reach the statue you had planned on controlling.

It was now or never. Just a few more seconds to wait before the awakening of the statue.

You wondered what kind of prank Sirius would have planned. In the week that had gone by since the beginning of the competition, you had barely talked to each other. You were playing it cool and blaming the sense of competition that coursed through your veins as well as Sirius’s, you blamed the time required to plan this prank… but the truth was that you were merely avoiding him.

Marlene and Lily’s words would not disappear from your mind. There was something in them that followed you everywhere, shadows lurking a step behind you. You could barely sleep because of this thought these days.

You doubted that Sirius really meant to ask you on a date. And yet… yet, now that the idea had been planted in your mind, you couldn’t help but think about it as a possibility.

You were torn away from your worries again as your teacher finally reached the statue. But just as you spoke the spell…

… All the paintings of the corridor started to sing.

You jumped, just like your teacher, before you clenched your jaw in frustration.

Sirius… he _had_ to plan his prank at the exact same spot as you, of course.

No matter the now chanting paintings, you proceeded with your own spell while McGonagall frowned hard at the loud voices that surrounded her. You guided the statue to try to hug and kiss the professor on the cheek, and McGonagall, after being startled by the statue’s movements, heaved a tired sigh as she hurried down the corridor, away from the statue.

“I know it’s you five again!” she cried through the corridor. “And you’re targeting _me_ this time?!”

The teacher was coming dangerously close to you, as she ran through the passage to escape from the statue, while the paintings were still singing a strange version of a Queen song.

You could read on the professor’s face that she was pissed… thoroughly pissed… it was more than time to run for your life, although you took a few more seconds to carve the scene before you in your mind.

Minerva McGonagall running down a corridor at the sound of Killer Queen, purchased by a tall statue of a monk who desperately tried to kiss her…

That was worth the hours of detention that would await you if you were caught. But you had to eventually tear yourself away from this hilarious view.

You turned around and rushed towards the closest cupboard, one corner away. You hurried inside and closed the door in such a hurry, that you didn’t even notice that the closet wasn’t empty…

You pressed your ear against the wooden door, listening closely. The song faded away as the spell seemed to be lifted, and you could hear McGonagall’s steps echoing in the passage now, still chased by the statue.

And as you focused all your attention on the teacher on the other side of the door, you failed again to notice the amused boy behind you.

Instead, you looked in your pocket for the magical map you had 'borrowed’ to James without his permission to monitor McGonagall’s movements. But your fingers met nothing but air in your pocket…

You checked inside, lighting up the tip of your wand.

“Is that what you’re looking for?”

You shrieked in surprise at the sound of a low voice behind you. And Sirius let out a barking laugh at the sight of your scared expression.

“Easy! Easy!” he laughed.

You immediately covered your mouth, thinking about the teacher in the corridor.

“Relax, I put a soundproofing spell when I hid in here,” Sirius reassured you, his grey eyes still sparkling with laughter.

You let out a relieved sigh.

“Godric! What are you doing here?!” you asked quite aggressively.

“I'm… hiding,” he grinned like an idiot.

You rolled your eyes.

“I mean… what are you doing _here_?! Did you follow me?”

“I was here first,” he pointed out. “And… I’m just hiding.”

“Why did you set your prank now?”

“It’s the only moment in the whole afternoon where McGonagall isn’t locked up in her office. And I guess it’s also why you chose to perform your prank at this moment.”

You heaved a sigh.

“Great… and you stole the Map from me, right?”

“You stole it first from James. And, as I’m one of its creators, I didn’t steal anything. I merely claimed back what rightfully belongs to me.”

“That and the title for the best prank, huh?” you joked.

“Exactly,” he grinned, unfolding the piece of parchment you had been looking for and making the map of Hogwarts appear in dark ink.

“When did you take it from me, by the way?” you asked, curious.

“This morning, at breakfast.”

“That… was well played.”

“Thank you.”

He heaved a frustrated sigh as his eyes seemed to follow the movements of someone on the map.

“Merlin, I knew it!” he sighed. “McGonagall is looking for us.”

“She’ll soon check the cupboard, we should get out.”

“Not for now, look.”

Indeed, McGonagall was for now in the only corridor leading towards the staircase. You were trapped.

“I guess all we can do is wait for her to get back in the passage where we set up the prank and then sneak out the cupboard and make a run for the stairs.”

Sirius nodded in agreement.

“This could take a while. She’s not moving,” he noticed.

“Great, we’re under siege…”

“So… what are we going to do? I mean… to kill time.”

“I have a book to read,” you answered, struggling to sit down in the narrow space available.

“Great…”

“I also have the crosswords of today’s Prophet, if you’d like.”

Sirius grinned down at you, letting himself slide against the wall to sit by your side, and you gave him your copy of the newspaper so he wouldn’t get bored.

In the tiny space, the two of you were sitting close to each other, his shoulder resting against yours. He didn’t seem to have even noticed that fact, but you had. And Merlin, it made your heart pounder in your chest…

Your friends’ words came back to your mind once more, and again, you wondered if they were right.

For the first time since the Library, you were alone with Sirius. And you wondered if you should ask him directly the question that had been burning your tongue for days. Perhaps it was for the best if you just let it all out and asked him what he truly meant. You didn’t think that he would be mad at you for asking, especially if you argued that it was because of Lily’s and Marlene’s words. No, your fear was coming from something else entirely.

Deep down, as the question kept on coming back to your mind again and again, you had started to hope that it was true. It had made you think about how you truly felt for him, forcing an introspection upon you. And the result was terrifying, the consequence terrible.

You really hoped that Sirius meant more than spending a nice afternoon with a friend now.

Your eyes drifted from your open book to his features, lingered on the lock of dark hair that fell before his grey eyes, down his jawline and then up to the curve of his lips.

Your heartrate quickened and you knew then that you had been lying to yourself for a long while now. You saw much more than a best friend in him.

You suddenly realized that Sirius had been watching you as well for several seconds, a quirked eyebrow marking his surprise.

“Are you okay?” he asked with humour in his voice.

You shook yourself out of your thoughts and felt your cheeks warming up fiercely.

“Of course! Why?” you asked back.

“Because… you’re staring at me in a weird way.”

Your cheeks felt even warmer, and you looked away, resting your gaze back onto the pages before you.

“No, I wasn’t,” you lied.

“Y/N… is everything alright?”

“Of course! I’m just… nervous… about McGonagall finding us, I mean.”

“Don’t worry about Minnie. She loves us both too much to throw us out of Hogwarts anyway.”

“I’m sure you’re right.”

He put the newspaper away and before you could protest, he tore your book out of your grip, and put it away as well.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked, and he seemed almost annoyed now.

“Nothing,” you frowned.

“You’ve been avoiding me since we started this bet… look… I don’t want this thing to ruin our friendship. I don’t really care about that, I was just teasing.”

“I know… it’s not that.”

“What is it then?”

You bit down your lip in hesitation, wondering what to do… but you couldn’t keep this for yourself.

“Lily and Marlene… we talked after you left for Quidditch practice…”

“What about it?”

“They… they think that… you wanting to go to Hogsmeade with me was… a… date…”

You shyly looked at him, your eyes meeting his two grey orbs. He narrowed his eyes at you, looking quite puzzled.

“Yeah… it was.”

Your eyes grew round in shock.

“You… You were asking me on a date?” you asked, stuttering.

“Yeah.”

“Oh…”

He winced, but a more amused expression formed on his features quickly after.

“You… you didn’t think that I was asking for a date, right?”

“No.”

“You thought I was just asking 'cause we’re friends.”

“Yes.”

“Well… If you don’t feel comfortable with the idea, you don’t have to come with me to Hogsmeade,” he went on slowly, his careful tone turning into a humorous one as he went on. “I mean… you would then have to give up, and I would win our bet and I would tease you for it forever but… you can.”

You couldn’t refrain a chuckle, and neither did he.

“I’m pretty confident that we could have a good time if you gave me a chance, though,” he added after a short silence.

You stared at him for a while, both of you wrapped in silence, the only light in the room coming from your two wands, your bodies still made so close to each other by the narrow cupboard you were trapped into. The air filled with dust was still but for your two breaths mingling halfway in the small space between the two of you.

“Well… over-confident… as usual,” you tried to joke despite your voice that sounded lower than usual.

He answered with a bright wave of laughter.

“So… what do you want to do?” Sirius asked more seriously.

“Well… I can’t let you win that bet so easily, can I?”

The two of you exchanged a shy smile.

“Good to hear. But I’m going to win. My prank was very good!”

“Mine was better.”

“No, it wasn't…”

“It was!”

“Wasn’t!”

“Was!”

You both exploded with laughter, and the weight you had carried on your shoulders for the past few days finally seemed to be lifted.

And Sirius felt just as relieved by your decision.

———————————————————————

“What do you mean?”

“We mean that we can’t decide based on this prank.”

“Guys, we barely escaped alive!”

“Don’t overreact!”

“Overreact? It was McGonagall!”

“You both performed a prank at the same time and they were both just as difficult to perform. We can’t decide.”

You heaved a sigh. After an hour spent locked in this cupboard with Sirius (not that any of you had complained about being stuck together in such a little space) you had finally reached the Library. And now, your friends were getting on your nerves.

“So what do you propose?” Sirius asked.

“Why don’t you prank each other?”

“Prank each other?”

“Yes. The first to be able to set a prank against the other wins,” James decided.

You and Sirius exchanged a glance, before you would both shrug.

“Alright then,” Sirius agreed, offering you his open hand. “Good luck.”

“Good luck,” you shook his hand.

“I would watch my back, if I were you,” he warned you with a wink.

“You should live by these words, Sirius,” you replied.

The prank war was far from over…

—————————————————————-

For three days the two of you lived with a threat hovering above your two heads. You were always suspicious and expecting Sirius to strike at any moment. And judging by the way Sirius always kept an eye on you, he was expecting the same from you.

But eventually, you were ready. The potion you had brewed would turn his skin green for a couple of hours, you merely had to pour it down discreetly in his drink.

And indeed, you managed to do so at dinner. While he was in a heated discussion with James and Peter, you ceased the occasion to put a few droplets in his glass.

And with a content sigh, you picked up your own glass of water to drink a little, trying to focus on Lily’s and Remus’s conversation again.

But Sirius fell silent next to you, staring at you as you rose your glass to your lips, and you frowned at his strange behaviour, suspicion now awakened in your mind.

But Sirius gave you a bright smile, and picked up his own glass, as to encourage you to act normally and drink.

And you were certain then that he had poured something in your drink too. When? You had no idea, he had been good hiding it, without a doubt.

You watched him raising his cup to his lips, but you stopped him before he would drink, grabbing his forearm.

He frowned hard at you.

But if he drank first, then he would lose his bet…

… so you emptied your drink in one long gulp, before meeting Sirius’s eyes again.

And judging by the look on his face, he knew about your plan as well.

“Why did you stop me? You could have won,” he asked softly, a little frown crossing his brow.

“What is your potion going to do to me?” you ignored his question.

He slowly grinned.

“Your hair has turned pink,” he let out with a loud wave of laughter that almost sounded like he was barking.

You joined his laughter, ignoring the mocking glances thrown your way from all around the Great Hall now.

“What was yours supposed to do?” he asked.

“Turn your skin green.”

“I may avoid that one, if you don’t mind. Green has never been my colour.”

You both chuckled again, before Sirius would ask the same question.

“Why did you stop me?”

You finally let go of his wrist, letting him put the cup down on the table. You shrugged, before shyly answering him.

“Maybe… maybe I don’t mind losing this bet.”

His stare became more intense, and his voice sounded a little deeper as he spoke again, a soft smile gracing his lips.

“Are you finally admitting that I’m better at setting pranks than you are?” he teased.

But there was something full of unspoken feelings in his grey eyes, a variety of glints you didn’t quite understand yet… but something was telling you that if you waited long enough, he would reveal their secrets to you one day.

“Only in your wildest dreams,” you replied. “But… I think… that I’d like to lose that bet of ours, just this one time.”

He raised his fingers to brush his thumb across your cheekbone, and you found yourself breathless under his delicate touch.

You exchanged a bright grin.

“Well then… I guess I’ll have to plan that date after all,” he whispered. “And if I may…”

“Yes?”

“Pink is definitely your colour.”


End file.
